48 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 
derivatives are registered, and all of the drug is 
also registered and so easily traced from importa- 
tion to consumption. Where registration is the 
chief object, the fee must be small, or it will defeat 
itself. Where income is the object the fee may be 
ample, but not so excessive as to be prohibitive. 
Under police power, the fee may be small for regis- 
tration purposes, large for regulative reasons 
(such as high license in the liquor business), or 
moderate, and practically supplying the funds for 
enforcing the special regulative law. This last is 
the case with regard to the license fees charged 
in the regulation of the practice of medicine in any 
of its branches. 
32. Standards for License. The object of laws 
regulating the practice of medicine is to insure the 
reasonable competence of those attempting to 
practice. It rests with the judgment of the legis- 
lature as to what kind of a standard shall be estab- 
lished, and the tendency must be for the gradual 
elevation of the standard with the advance of 
scientific knowledge, and of the number of prac- 
titioners. When practitioners are few, the stand- 
ard must be relatively low, or those in need of such 
service may be deprived of help. The first require- 
ment has generally been the possession of a 
diploma from a legally incorporated medical col- 
lege, or an examination before a board of exam- 
iners composed of experts. The next step has been 
to specify certain standards for the schools whose 
diplomas will be accepted, and then to require 
both diploma and examination. In addition it is 
customary to require evidence of good moral char- 
acter, for the intimate relationships which the 
